A little old, but still fun.

Just a quick heads up that there won’t be any updates over the next two or three weeks as I’m away in Japan at the moment. I aim to make up for it with some interesting video stuff when I get back.

A quick look at this year’s Eurogamer Expo in London. More than 40 games over 4 floors, along a games careers fair and developer sessions. Highly recommended.

New on Steam and well worth a try is the Torchlight demo from Runic Games. Torchlight is a great action RPG and will definately appeal to anyone who likes punishing their left mouse button. I hope to get around to reviewing the full game some time in the future, but until then get playing.

Torchlight (website)

Do you have a superhero hero fantasy itch you want to scratch? Well, then you’re in luck as Cryptic Studios superhero MMO Champions Online is free this weekend in celebration of the Blood Moon content patch that goes live today for subscribers. Non-Subscribers will be able to play from around 5pm GMT Friday 30th October until 5pm GMT Monday 2nd November. Check out the Champions Online site for more details.

Champions Online

Interested in League of Legends? Live in Europe? Then you might be interested to know that the developers, Riot Games, are taking sign ups for the European beta right now.

League of Legends

Navigating Forza Motorsport 3’s many menus is like walking into Audi showroom, with all of it’s clean minimalist sophistication, and being offered a latte by a well dressed sales manager.

According to Eurogamer its Peter Egan in this case, who, frankly, be would just the man I’d want to sell me a high powered Audi R8. Just like Peter’s smooth received tones, Forza 3 oozes style from the moment you put the disc in the drive.

Graphically, the car models are detailed and accurate, but, despite its stylishness, compared to rivals like Need for Speed: SHIFT, Forza 3 is a little plain overall. However, the compromise is worth the smooth 60 frames a second it delivers when you are driving and ultimately the trackside glitz isn’t so important when you hammer past it at 120 mph.

The developers, Turn 10, have done a sterling job in creating a racing game that is accessible for players for all ages. Forza 3 can be set up to do all the hard work for you, even to the extent that you can hire an AI driver if your skills are that poor. It will certainly open the game up to a few new players, although on easier settings with every assist on all the cars tend to feel very similar and it becomes a little boring. The physics model is fantastic and even the more powerful cars like the Bugatti Veron are manageable and fun to drive with many of the assists off.

The new rewind feature, which allows you to undo crashes and the like at any point in single-player, frees you up to try the more challenging and rewarding difficultly levels without the frustration of having to restart races over and over. I found it to be a bit of a crutch at first and used it a lot, but as my feel for the cars developed I found myself using it less and less. Of course you don’t have to use it if you feel like its cheating.

The main single player part of Forza is Season Play, which takes you through 6 seasons of racing events based on what you’re driving, or what cars and tracks you haven’t tried yet. Initially it seems restrictive, but it actually makes Season Play different each time you restart.

Away from the career mode you can quick race any car you have downloaded or that is on the discs and as well any track. That means 400 cars and 100 tracks, then add on a huge number of multiplayer options. There are obscene amounts of content on offer here. I should note that much of the content on disc 2 has been recycled from Forza 2, which is good or bad depending on your viewpoint. The car catalogue covers all the expected bases, but I would have liked more everyday cars to pimp out.

When it comes to customising, upgrading and tuning your cars there are a mind boggling selection of options. Cars can be quick upgraded if you don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of it, but for the modders there is tons of content to mess about with. You can also paint your cars for that personal touch, from my feeble efforts to stunning community paint jobs.

The Storefront allows players to upload and browse replays, photos, paint-jobs and car tuning setups. The community can rate them allowing the best content to rise to the top. Again it lets a less hardcore player get the best from the more complex parts of the game they don’t understand or can’t be bothered to explore.

Accessible as it may be Forza 3 is not perfect, the damage modelling isn’t as developed as it could be and you’ll sit through a lot of loading. If you can spare 11Gb on your 360’s hard drive then it is worth installing both discs to take the edge off the loading times. To be honest these are such minor faults I doubt they will trouble you much in game.

The more you play Forza Motorsport 3 the better it gets and the less important the minor flaws it has seem to matter. When all said and done, Forza 3 is a sublime mix of speed, style and accessibility that easily makes it the most enjoyable sim racer out there bar none.

So here we are back in the Halo universe, back in New Mombasa, but this time you are an elite Orbital Drop Shock Trooper ready to snuff out all forms of alien life in the name of intergalactic peace.

Oh yes, much has been made of the fact you are no longer the unbeatable Master Chief, but to be honest I failed to notice the difference. But about the fall damage, new pistol, health packs and no dual welding I hear you cry. Look, if we’re being really honest here there is almost no difference between Halo 1 Master Chief and the ODSTs. Here I am jumping clear over a car, sticking an enemy and flipping a jeep, all distinctively Master Chiefish if you ask me. Anyone who tells you otherwise is fooling themselves or working for Microsoft.

This isn’t a knock against ODST; I think it is a good thing that the game retains the fluid, satisfying combat that makes the Halo games so good. It is just that I don’t think the departure is as dramatic as advertised.

Storywise, ODST is much more of a change. After your initial drop goes a little pear shaped and you awake quite some time later in the Convenient occupied streets of New Mombasa, which acts as a hub world for accessing a series of flashback levels. Each flashback mission jumps you into one of your squadmates earlier in the day and then you play through their experiences after the drop. As an alternative to a more linear structure it works pretty well and it is nice to see how the various strands tie together for the final levels.

If you’ve enjoyed previous Halo campaigns, you’ll make it to the end of ODST with little resistance on normal. Like most things in life Halo is more fun with more people and playing through the campaign with a few mates on legendary is great fun.

Visually, the game looks great if a little samey in places, but when has that not been the case will the Halo. The new enhanced vision mode is a welcome addition and makes hunting down objectives and stray enemies much easier. I think the only criticism I can level is the human faces. I mean. Look. At. Her.

In addition to the campaign there is the now ubiquitous Horde mode, Firefight, and with a group of like minded friends there is certain fun to be had with ten levels of non-stop Halo combat it provides. But I can’t help but feel that it might be the least played part of the package and I feel no need to play it again.

On the second disc is a content-complete version of Halo 3’s multiplayer, which is excellent value, but less so if you have already invested in the existing map packs.

There are three new maps included and Microsoft claims it has no plans to release these new maps as DLC, but I recall them saying similar things around the launch of Gears of War 2.

And although it may be the second coming, the Halo: Reach beta does not count towards the value of the package despite its prominence in the game’s promotion and packaging. Should we as consumers really have to pay for the right to test a company’s incomplete products? I can’t help but feel that this is the top of a slippery slope.

While it is certainly no a rush job or cash grab, ODST feels like a side project nestled between Halo 3 and Halo: Reach and while this is no bad thing, the question of value for money does loom its head as it is essentially a full price game. If you have not dipped into Halo 3’s excellent, but now quite hardcore, multiplayer experience or want to trade in your disc copy of Halo 3 then OSDT comes highly recommend, but for everyone else you’ll end up liking ODST, but you might struggle to love it considering the price of entry.

I came across an interesting interview with Fernando Paiz, the Exective Producer of Dungeons & Dragons Online, over at Ars Technica and figured it was worth sharing with you. The writer, Ben Kuchera, does a great job in drawing out good answers and providing interesting insight.

Dungeons & Dragons Online Interview (Ars Techinca)

Yet another interesting editorial piece from Rob Fahey at GamesIndustry.biz about price perceptions and realities in the games market. He makes some very interesting points about rising development costs and consumer views on a suitable price. And yes, he does talk about Modern Warfare 2.

Price Pressures (GamesIndustry.biz)